Mark 5

Mark 5:2

[a] a man, &c.] What is here affirmed of a man, in the singular number, is Matt. viii. 28, δύο δαιμονιζόμενοι, two demoniacs, so in like manner, where, c. x. 46, there is mention but of one blind man, Bartimæus, in Matthew ch. xx. 30, there are δύο τυφλοὶ, two blind men, which difference hath nothing of weight in it, because Matthew which names two, saying the truth, the other which names but one, yet not denying that there were more, must necessarily say true also; and it being not pretended that each of the evangelists doth relate all that was done by Christ, but positively affirmed by John, ch. xxi. 35, that all that was done, was not by any of them related, there is consequently nothing strange in this of St. Mark, which in either place omits the mention of one of them. So when Matthew mentions the bringing the ass and the colt both, ch. xxi. 7, St. Mark only mentions the foal, ch. xi. 7. Of the same pitch it is (viz. matter of very light importance, far from a real exception against the authority of this Gospel) that the order of things

Ch. vi. 9, 10.

Mark 5:3

And one of them here mentioned (as the other also in St. Matthew) had—

Mark 5:7

And the devil that possessed him made use of the man’s voice to cry aloud to Jesus, and say, Let me alone, thou eternal Son of the supreme God; I beseech thee earnestly for God’s sake, who hath permitted me thus to possess and wound this man, not presently to throw me into my chains.

c And the devils that possessed him answered Jesus, saying, It is not any peculiar name that is compatible to us, unless that of a legion, or regiment of six thousand soldiers among the Romans, there be so many of us in this man.

[b] torment me not] That βασανίζειν, among other significations, is taken for coercing or imprisoning, hath been said, note [e] Matt. viii., and so, Matt. xviii. 34, βασανισταὶ signifies jailors. And so here, when the devil desires and adjures Christ, that he should not βασανίζειν, it signifies sending him to his prison, to his chains, Jude 6. and 2 Pet. ii. 4, for so in St. Luke’s relation of it, Luke viii. 31, they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep, that is, that he would not send them to hell, (see note [d] Luke vih.) their place of punishment and restraint, where they were (instead of going up and down, Job i. 7.) to be kept close and tormented also, τετηρημένοι εἰς κρίσιν in St. Peter, 2 Pet. ii. 4, kept in custody to be punished. And accordingly St. Matthew reads, Art thou come πρὸ καιροῦ βασανίσαι, Matt. viii. 28, to send us to prison before the time of our going thither, signifying this to be a more tolerable state that now they were in, less of restraint and misery, than when time should come, they were to expect.

Mark 5:10

And the devil was very importunate in his request, that if he were forced to go out of that man, he might yet stay in those parts, and get some other habitation.

d Permit us to enter into the swine, Matt. viii. 13.

Mark 5:12

[a] that seeing &c.] These words ἵνα βλέποντες, that seeing &c., note the obduration of the Israelites, which fell on them from God’s desertion as a punishment of their not making use of the talents which he had given them; and so this verse is answerable and parallel to Matt. xiii. 15, or the end of that place in Isaiah, recited and set down at large in St. Matthew, but here, and so also Luke viii. 10. and John xii. 40, epitomized and summed up, μήποτε ἴδωσι, lest they should see &c. And therefore, from the importance of the whole place in Isaiah and Matthew, the sense of it (here, where it is shortly recited) must be taken, viz. that upon their shutting their eyes, that is, voluntary obduration of heart against God, God withdraws his grace, which otherwise he would have afforded them, and doth afford others. To which it is consequent, that they see not at all. Agreeably to that of Procopius on Isaiah, p. 102, Βλέψαι παρὴν αὐτοῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ ὀφθέντος χάριτος, τὸ μὴ ἰδεῖν συμβίβηκε μυσάντων τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς, “The power of seeing was present to them from the grace of him that was seen; their not seeing was an accident or consequent of their shutting their eyes.” And so here their not being able to see for want of light (the obscurity of those parables in which God spake to them) was a punishment of their winking, and not being willing to see.

Mark 5:13

And although this was foreseen by Christ to be the certain drowning of the swine, and though he seldom wrought any destructive miracle, yet that the people might see the virulence of these devils, if not restrained by him, and so the mercy done to those that were possessed, and likewise the mercy now approaching to their country by the coming of Christ, if they will accept of it, and withal to try whether their love to their swine was greater than that to their own souls, he permitted the devils to go into the swine, that is, forbad them not, did not violently restrain them.

e the inhabitants of the city and the whole country went out—

Mark 5:16

And they that had been present all the time, gave them the whole relation, the mercy to the poor man, and the drowning of the swine.

Mark 5:17

And when they heard the one with the other, their love of the world prevailed so far above their care of that which was so much more precious, that they earnestly besought him to depart—

Mark 5:22

[c] one of the rulers of the synagogue] What is meant by ἀρχισυνάγωγος here, or ἄρχων συναγωγῆς, Luke viii. 41, the chief or ruler of the synagogue, will the better appear, if we first consider, what here we find, that there were more than one of them, and therefore Jairus is here called εἰς τῶν ἀρχισυναγώγων, one of these chiefs or rulers; and that not only in divers, but in the same synagogue, Acts xiii. 15. For συναγωγὴ d here signifies the lesser consistory, or that of any particular city, (as that is opposite to the great sanhedrim at Jerusalem), the judgment of twenty-three, who were now able to punish offences not capital, to scourge, &c., which is therefore called scourging in their synagogues. And although among the rulers thereof there was generally one chief in learning, and proportionably in authority, who both here in the Gospel, and in the Life of Alexander Severus, and in the Constitutions of the Emperors is called ἀρχισυνάγωγος, or princeps synagogæ, the head or chief, who imposed hands on all those which were elected or admitted into the consistory, yet because the rest had power of judicature there, with and under him, therefore not only he, but the rest also, are all contained under this common name of ἀρχισυνάγωγοι, rulers of the syna-

d See note [g] Matt. ix.

Mark 5:28

Being thus confidently persuaded in her mind that the least touch of his clothes would cure her. ᵇ flux. ‘some cure had been wrought by touching him, turned— ᵖ disease, μάστιγος.

Mark 5:29

[b] brought forth] The word παραδῷ is here in an unusual sense, and signifies the ripeness of the fruit, that which, Luke viii. 14, is τελεσφορεῖν, to bring to perfection, for so the Hebrew שלב, which signifies to be entire, perfect, complete, is by the Septuagint rendered, παραδίδωμι, Isaiah xxxviii. 13, because when fruit is ripe, it doth, as it were, deliver itself to the gatherer.

[d] fountain] The Hebrew מקור signifies two things, properly a fountain, or spring of water, and metaphorically ῥύσις, a profluvium or flux; for a fountain we have it, Zech. xiii. 1, where the Septuagint, that render it τόπος, a place, read, it seems, מקום, place, instead of מקור, fountain. For the flux, such as after childbirth, it is used Lev. xii. 7, where yet the Septuagint read πηγὴν, a fountain; accordingly here

Mark 5:37

And the father and the mother, Luke viii. 51, leading him the way, he permitted none of his own company to go into the house along with him, save—

¹ See Matt. ix. 23. ᵐ Peter and James and John, ver. 37.

² from thy disease, μάστιγος σου. ᵇ follow with him, συνακολούθησαι αὕτη. ᶜ Or, of them that; for the ancient Gr. and Lat. MS. reads κλαίοντων.

M 2

[c] storm of wind] Λαίλαψ is defined by Hesychius, ἀνέμου συστροφὴ μετὰ ὑετοῦ, “a tempest of wind with rain.”